Casey Aims To Make Toronto An Attractive Destination For NBA Players

Raptors fans have watched players such as Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, and Chris Bosh leave for greener pastures, leaving the franchise barren of stars. While DeRozan, Davis, and Bargnani make up a young, talented core, the team desperately needs direction.

“The misnomer that you are in Canada and not in the States is totally misplaced,’’ new coach Dwane Casey. “Because it’s a great sports city. I can’t imagine if you turn the program around how exciting it would be. It’s a melting pot for anybody. But a lot of times players just come there in the dead of winter and don’t really get a taste of the city. That’s one thing that’s going to be our mission, is to try to change that image and go back to my recruiting days at Kentucky, and try to recruit.’’

It won't be an easy job, getting love for Toronto from American players. It is an irrational thing. Players love coming to this town for games because the restaurants are fantastic and, apparently, the women are available. Never been my experience, but I am not a professional athlete. Anyway, it will take a serious winning franchise to attract players. When we are winning they will come, when we are losing they will leave. Other than McGrady, who has amounted to being the best player on the losing team his whole career, the other players left because the team sucked. If we had pieces around Bosh, he may have stayed, media whore that he is. Vince whined about losing. Antonio Davis was willing to stay for the money in spite of centimeters and grams.

The biggest impediment to Canada seems to be the one-sided refereeing that always goes against us. If we get a true reputation as a tight defensive team, then we might get a little bit of the Boston advantage. Amir Johnson would not have had a fouling problem at all playing in Boston. In Toronto, he was getting bad calls on him every game.

If Casey wants to seriously recruit NBA talent he needs to have a dedicated VIP room at For Your Eyes Only complete with a vaporizer. It would also help if the locker rooms at the ACC had poles for the Raptor Dance Pack.

I think Toronto needs an NFL team and a championship for one of its teams this century for it to be considered a great sports city. It's a pretty darn good sports city right now, but an NFL team and maybe a 2nd NHL team would make it one of the best if not the best.

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

"Itís no wonder Raptors fans have become jaded. They have watched players such as Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, and Chris Bosh leave for greener pastures, leaving the franchise barren of stars."

I see the point of the argument but could the author have not thrown us a bone by pointing out that those greener pastures turned out to be a bit more brown and weedy?

I like this guy already. I don't want to hear we will instead focus on international players, like I have heard in the past. Not that the strategy is bad, it certainly needs to be employed we need all the help we can get, but I WANTED Bryan to bring us respectability! Not distance us as some Euro North team. I felt that on the surface, our POSTURE and SOUND BITES did matter to free agents. Our Chief re-iterating that Toronto is not attractive to American players only made me shake my head.

I think the culture and prevailing thought can be changed, just as it was in Baseball with the Jays, and don't kid yourself and think that the the Jays did not feel the isolation, it wasn't easy street for them either, remember Doyle Alexander, you just have to keep looking forward and not let side actors derail you.

...but it has to come from the top, our GM needs to keep re-iterating that TORONTO, is there for the taking to an athlete that knows how to play the game. It is the creme of the markets, if you are the right talent, we will give you a stage to the world, and we certainly HAVE that capacity and that can't ever be taken away from us.

I don't think any star player has left Toronto cause he disliked the city. In most cases, they left Toronto cause the team sucked and was going nowhere (VC, Bosh, Damon). The only outlier was McGrady and he left cause he was an idiot.

If Casey wants to recruit players the first step of the plan would be the Raptors not sucking for once. That would be a welcome change for fans, too.

I don't think any star player has left Toronto cause he disliked the city. In most cases, they left Toronto cause the team sucked and was going nowhere (VC, Bosh, Damon). The only outlier was McGrady and he left cause he was an idiot.

If Casey wants to recruit players the first step of the plan would be the Raptors not sucking for once. That would be a welcome change for fans, too.

He was young. Spent most of his time inside his Queens Quay apartment playing vids. A friend of mine had the penthouse above his pad. Used to look down at his balcony and see the DTV dish and DISH network, all the signs of someone missing home. When he was in the elevator, he hardly ever looked up always look down on his shoes and was as quite as a mouse. He was usually alone, no entourage.

He has admitted that he did not give this city a chance, and spent too much time isolating himself. I never saw his off-court personality till he was with the magic, he just did not have much of it here. I think it was just a case of maturity for him. Becoming a man, and being more secure with himself.

He was young. Spent most of his time inside his Queens Quay apartment playing vids. A friend of mine had the penthouse above his pad. Used to look down at his balcony and see the DTV dish and DISH network, all the signs of someone missing home. When he was in the elevator, he hardly ever looked up always look down on his shoes and was as quite as a mouse. He was usually alone, no entourage.

He has admitted that he did not give this city a chance, and spent too much time isolating himself. I never saw his off-court personality till he was with the magic, he just did not have much of it here. I think it was just a case of maturity for him. Becoming a man, and being more secure with himself.

McGrady left because he was a little bitch. The Raptors gave him 2 years with a sports psychologist so he could adjust to playing in the NBA and away from home. I think you may be giving him too much credit and letting him off the hook a little easy.

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

McGrady left because he was a little bitch. The Raptors gave him 2 years with a sports psychologist so he could adjust to playing in the NBA and away from home. I think you may be giving him too much credit and letting him off the hook a little easy.

I really don't understand why sportstars (and other celebrities) need to be judged so hard all the time. He was about 20 years old. Normal 20 year-olds are allowed to make mistakes (or do thing you don't like) and (after some time) get a new start and be forgiven. I know it's just a forum and we are not talking to him directly, but why so rancorous?

McGrady left because he was a little bitch. The Raptors gave him 2 years with a sports psychologist so he could adjust to playing in the NBA and away from home. I think you may be giving him too much credit and letting him off the hook a little easy.

what was he 2 years old? i wouldn't care if i had to live away from home to play in the NBA and make millions. The dude was a moron, if he stayed we would have collected a few rings by now.

McGrady never liked Toronto and never embraced the city and he never misses an opportunity to shit on Toronto.

When we talk about stars not wanting to stay in Toronto, it is McGrady that started this crap. When McGrady left Toronto, Damon had just bolted town like an a'hole. It was a new franchise, and fans wanted to see its high draft picks stay around, especially when they were on the cusp of being really good. And McGrady lead us on, like a little bitch, thus the extra disappointment. Then to rub salt in our wounds, he said that no one wants to play in Toronto and that Vince will bolt next. This didn't exactly endear us to him. He left our team when we could have been great.

We drafted McGrady out of highschool, taking a big risk and passing up some pretty good talent. Even though he had a psychologist help him adapt for 2 years he still bitched about how he didn't like Toronto because it was cold and that he didn't want to leave his condo.

He told Raptor fans at the end of season press conference when about to be a free agent that Toronto was his #1 choice and the media and marketing had this whole Carter and McGrady thing, where the cousins loved each other and enjoyed playing together. While we fans lapped this up, Vince and Tracy kind of played it up too. Then he didn't return Grunwald's phone calls and he bolts town like a little bitch. This was pretty shocking. That left Carter as the #1 dog. And we loved Carter back then. Then there was the whole family feud thing, where McGrady's mom started throwing insults at VC and his mom, and that whole thing blew-up into a bit of a fiasco. Then he guaranteed to ESPN that Vince would soon leave town. The boos started raining down when McGrady came back to town from then on out.

Years later, he still shits on Toronto by saying he was sure that Bosh would leave to. Not that it wasn't accurate, but because it was done as a rubbing salt in our wound kind of way as he did with VC.

So I'm being a bit rancorous because McGrady was shitty to the Raptors and Raptor fans. FU McGrady.

Last edited by RaptorDan; Thu Jul 21st, 2011 at 02:35 AM.

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

McGrady never liked Toronto and never embraced the city and he never misses an opportunity to shit on Toronto.

When we talk about stars not wanting to stay in Toronto, it is McGrady that started this crap. When McGrady left Toronto, Damon had just bolted town like an a'hole. It was a new franchise, and fans wanted to see its high draft picks stay around, especially when they were on the cusp of being really good. And McGrady lead us on, like a little bitch, thus the extra disappointment. Then to rub salt in our wounds, he said that no one wants to play in Toronto and that Vince will bolt next. This didn't exactly endear us to him. He left our team when we could have been great.

We drafted McGrady out of highschool, taking a big risk and passing up some pretty good talent. Even though he had a psychologist help him adapt for 2 years he still bitched about how he didn't like Toronto because it was cold and that he didn't want to leave his condo.

He told Raptor fans at the end of season press conference when about to be a free agent that Toronto was his #1 choice and the media and marketing had this whole Carter and McGrady thing, where the cousins loved each other and enjoyed playing together. While we fans lapped this up, Vince and Tracy kind of played it up too. Then he didn't return Grunwald's phone calls and he bolts town like a little bitch. This was pretty shocking. That left Carter as the #1 dog. And we loved Carter back then. Then there was the whole family feud thing, where McGrady's mom started throwing insults at VC and his mom, and that whole thing blew-up into a bit of a fiasco. Then he guaranteed to ESPN that Vince would soon leave town. The boos started raining down when McGrady came back to town from then on out.

Years later, he still shits on Toronto by saying he was sure that Bosh would leave to. Not that it wasn't accurate, but because it was done as a rubbing salt in our wound kind of way as he did with VC.

So I'm being a bit rancorous because McGrady was shitty to the Raptors and Raptor fans. FU McGrady.

McGrady never liked Toronto and never embraced the city and he never misses an opportunity to shit on Toronto.

When we talk about stars not wanting to stay in Toronto, it is McGrady that started this crap. When McGrady left Toronto, Damon had just bolted town like an a'hole. It was a new franchise, and fans wanted to see its high draft picks stay around, especially when they were on the cusp of being really good. And McGrady lead us on, like a little bitch, thus the extra disappointment. Then to rub salt in our wounds, he said that no one wants to play in Toronto and that Vince will bolt next. This didn't exactly endear us to him. He left our team when we could have been great.

How can you say that McGrady "started all the crap" about players not wanting to settle in Toronto when you reference Stoudemire demanding a trade well over two years earlier? Plus there's a huge difference between Stoudemire forcing the franchises hand in the middle of a season while he's under contract and McGrady deciding to play somewhere else when his contract had run out. That's his right whether the fans get butthurt or not. Yes, it was dissapointing that McGrady left but I consider Stoudemire bailing on the team half way through the season to be a much bigger crime.

We drafted McGrady out of highschool, taking a big risk and passing up some pretty good talent. Even though he had a psychologist help him adapt for 2 years he still bitched about how he didn't like Toronto because it was cold and that he didn't want to leave his condo.

The Raptors didn't skip over other players and draft McGrady out of the goodness of their heart so I'm not sure why you're bringing it up like they should be given credit for it. They drafted him because they thought he was the best choice to help their team. They were using McGrady in the same sense that McGrady was using them.

McGrady had the chance to a) play in his backyard in Orlando b) get paid more $$$ then he would have had in Toronto c) be a featured player on a team that was supposed to be one of the best in the East. But because the Raps drafted him out of high school, he should be blindly loyal to them for the rest of his career?

He told Raptor fans at the end of season press conference when about to be a free agent that Toronto was his #1 choice and the media and marketing had this whole Carter and McGrady thing, where the cousins loved each other and enjoyed playing together. While we fans lapped this up, Vince and Tracy kind of played it up too. Then he didn't return Grunwald's phone calls and he bolts town like a little bitch. This was pretty shocking. That left Carter as the #1 dog. And we loved Carter back then. Then there was the whole family feud thing, where McGrady's mom started throwing insults at VC and his mom, and that whole thing blew-up into a bit of a fiasco. Then he guaranteed to ESPN that Vince would soon leave town. The boos started raining down when McGrady came back to town from then on out.

I'm not sure where you're even getting these facts from, but the writing was on the wall for a long time that McGrady would be gone when his deal expired. I think the fans held out hope that he'd stick around after we broke into the playoffs in 2000, but it was more of a pipe dream spurred on by a feel-good end to the season rather than a realistic option. Orlando was a slam dunk for him for all of the reasons I listed above, and with VC here the chances of keeping both of them were always pretty slim. You also don't mention that signing two shooting guards to huge deals would have been a poor use of resources by the Raptors.

Yes, he seemed to enjoy playing with Carter during that playoff run in 2000 but that doesn't mean he was "leading on" the franchise. He was just fulfilling his duties by playing as hard as he could while he was here. I'm not sure when that became a reason to trash a guy, especially considering how some other players have decided to leave town.

Years later, he still shits on Toronto by saying he was sure that Bosh would leave to. Not that it wasn't accurate, but because it was done as a rubbing salt in our wound kind of way as he did with VC.

So I'm being a bit rancorous because McGrady was shitty to the Raptors and Raptor fans. FU McGrady.

"
It was very tough," McGrady, a member of the New York Knicks that play in Toronto on Friday night, said in the morning. "I was 18 years old. I still wasn't even legal when I came up here. I think the legal age was 19. I was up here, just me and one of my buddies, a foreign country, not knowing anything about this place. Being in a cold environment: I'm a Floridian, so that was tough. My first year was definitely a challenging moment in my life to adapt to."

Please tell me that this isn't what you're referring to when you said he shit all over Toronto. To me, this sounds like a guy who is reflecting on his time here while being honest with himself and honest with the reporter. I don't consider this "shitting" on Toronto. He's basically saying that he was immature at the time and wasn't able to handle a new city.

"He's been here for quite some time now," McGrady said of Bosh. "He's personally been successful. The team really hasn't done that much. Maybe he wants to start out fresh out with another franchise, or maybe he's doing it for tax reasons - I'm not speaking of Chris Bosh, I'm just saying the individual that wants to move on. There are different reasons why a guy wouldn't want to play here."

These are his comments on Bosh that you alluded to. He may have been a little out of line by speaking on another team's business, but once again, he's just answering a question honestly. For what it's worth however, he turned out to be exactly right about Bosh and Carter leaving the team. I blame those two guys though - not McGrady for stating the obvious.

The reason Bosh left was because the team was sputtering and he had an inferiority complex about the other guys from the '03 draft class - not because of the comments that McGrady made. If you're looking to place the blame on someone I would suggest Colangelo or perhaps even, I dunno, Bosh?